System characterisation of high gain and high saturated output power, Pr/sup 3+/-doped fluorozirconate fibre amplifier at 1.3 mu m

We report the first use of a high gain (24 dB) and high saturated output power (> 100 mW) Pr3+-doped fluorozirconate fibre amplifier in a 2.5 Gbit/s system. A sensitivity of −37.3 dBm has been achieved when used as a preamplifier in conjunction with a pin-FET receiver. This we believe represents the most sensitive reported 1.3 μm direct detection receiver at this bit rate.